Broken strays
by Cojuribuji
Summary: Abused and beaten by a man who said he loved her, Nellie struggles to back on her feet. But when surviving nightmares and memories turns to surviving flesh hungry reanimated corpses alone, will she be able to trust those left around her enough to help her? A Daryl x Oc, Swearing and graphicness and depressiveness- you've been warned.
1. Chapter 1

Broken Strays

A/N- I warn you, this is rather depressing, it's mainly my angsty feels. I felt compelled to create this character and story after hearing the experience of one of the toughest people I know and respect, inspiring me so much... Hope you like it, reviews will make me write more ^_^

Chapter 1,

from him to home to them.

'Some people are like feral stray dogs. When you first approach 'em they may snarl and snap... But if you take em in- give them food and shelter and love... They'll love you back forever'

Week 1

-I sat in my truck, shivering as my mom sat at the wheel, taking me away.

I could still hear every insult, feel every pain he physically caused even though he was slowly becoming miles away.

I thought I'd found the one. Thought he was perfect. Was it me? Was it that I deserved it all? I was worthless. I was a piece of shit. I was nothing to anybody... At least he loved me right? -

She winced as her mom rubbed her arm reassuringly, unaware that she was putting too much pressure on a painful fresh bruise. But She could hide it. She'd had worse.

Her mom lay her suitcase in the bedroom and cried by her side all night till morning. She missed this place, this room, this bed and when her mom finally went to her own bed, She found She missed the solitude. Just being alone...

She curled up on her side and let the silent tears drench her pillow. 'Was it sick I missed him?' ,she asked herself.

Week 2

A hundred miles away from him... Yet he was still there in her nightmares...

She saw her old friends today, put on a smile and spent the day at the beach... But all She could do was sit alone on the sand as they played in the water. Her chest hurt too much and what about her scars? Both from him and herself... She was sweating in a long sleeve shirt and jeans... But she can't let them see it. "You Fucking attention seeking bitch..." Echoed in her head. It wasn't his voice for once- it was theirs- her own friends.

The pains, the nightmares and now the headaches had gotten worse.

Week 3-

She no longer missed him. But she feared her nightmares would come true- that her psycho Ex would find her again. Would abuse and torture her again and would make her believe she deserved it.

Week 4-

Her mom noticed she wasn't getting better. She called a psychiatrist.

They always say it'll get better. But when? How do they know that?

Week 5-

She could smile more. She could talk more. She'd let her closest friends see her arms- covered in old scars and bruised and brand new cuts. Once a selfharmer, always a self harmer, she'd told herself even long before she'd met him.

They were worried of course, but they still understood. Why wouldn't they? They were good people.

Week 6-

she'd told them. She told her closest friends of the abuse. During the day it was better. She could distract herself, be playful and funny...During the night, the nightmares stole her sleep from her. There was no distractions.

He was always there, even a hundred miles away. He was always There.

Week 7-

The infections begun. Her parents were gone and her closest friends escaped the town together.

Week 8-

Things were bad. Trying to survive helped her push away the memories of her torture, but at night or when things were calm, those voices filled her head and squeezed at her chest, making her remember. Making her whole body echo with the pain.

Week 9-

They weren't doing so well. None could fire a gun and that meant running all the time. Her chest couldn't take all the moving. Her frail thin limbs couldn't take the fight for survival. How long would they have left?

Week 10-

They were gone. She'd managed to run, but they hadn't. She was on her own now. The unused gun thus far had been fired 5 times today. 5 dead friends. A 6th bullet was looking rather tasty...

Week 11-

Supplies had run out, Atlanta was a bust and she hadn't seen another living human in days. She'd gotten pretty handy with that knife... But everytime she cut she thought about not even cleaning the walker gunk off the blade... Thinking about turning... But was she stronger than that?

While she sat hungry beside a fresh walker kill and stared at the disgusting blade she thought about it. What more was there left to deal with? Would the nightmares leave her or follow her in death?

As she sighed and looked up at the grey sky a sound she hadn't heard in a while shocked her.

Voices.

Human.

Living.

Voices.

Two men came out from the trees behind her carrying something big.

"C'mon Darleena, wanna get these fucking kills back to the truck and get outta the fucking redzone already!"


	2. Chapter 2

Broken strays Chapter 2

The way we bleed for what we need

They stopped as still and tense as she did when their eyes locked. The younger mans hand tightened on his cross bow and the elders twitched by his knife on his belt. He saw the double dead Geek by her side and knew she had killed it.

But Nellie dropped her shoulders- her arms limp and the knife lay away to her side, seeming to ignore the rotting corpse she had just stabbed in the head and the two new men.

If they wanted to kill her, they were welcome to it. Save her the trouble. They just stared at each other for a long time, the brothers waiting for her to spring to life and attack them and She thinking the same.

"Can ya speak?" Finally the elder one broke the uncomfortable silence, taking a cautious step forward, leaving the slaughtered buck he was carrying on the ground behind him. She nodded and her eyes lazily jumped from one brother to the other, taking in their features and expressions, waiting for one to take a sudden movement and end her life. Not that she especially wanted to see it coming...

"Then what's your name sweetheart?" The elder offered a crooked grin, which she did not return.

"M'names Nellie..." She mumbled, voice cracking due to her thirst. She cleared her throat roughly and her chest spasmed with a jolt of pain. Her hand grasped at her chest discreetly while The brothers looked at each other.

They seemed to relax a little as the elder continued.

"Well sweet cheeks, I'm Merle, and this here's my baby brother, Darleena." He pointed to himself then to Daryl with a grin. Nellie nodded and looked back down again, her chest pain dissolving to nothing again.

"Whatchu doing out here alone?" He knelt a meter or so Infront of her, eyeing the knife that lay not ten inches from her limp hands. She rolled her shoulders painfully in a bony shrug.

"My friends died." She said simply, taking the gun from her back pocket and emptying the chamber, one lone bullet falling to the dusty ground.

"Left me this and nothing else." Merle rubbed the side of his face and stood back up as she threw the gun away from herself and sighed.

"If you're looking fer a group..." Daryl started, but Merle gave him a steely look and he soon shut his mouth again. He walked away from Nellie as she stared transfixed at the bullet, but her attention was directly on their voices as Merle leaned toward his brother.

"We can't just take her back up with em... I ain't looking soft and bringing a damn depressive damsel in distress back. She's a fucking dead weight..."

"Even so, we can't just leave her..." Daryl grunted back, throwing a glance at Nellie, her back almost to them, but he could see the side of her face and her hands limp in her lap. He noticed she was no longer staring at the bullet and her head was inclined towards them. She was listening carefully.

"Fine!" Merle whisper shouted, throwing up his arms in defeat.

"At least check the crazy bitch for bites or scratches..."

At the thought of her skin being checked, Nellies limp hands turned ridged, quickly pulling the sleeves of her shirt past her palms trying to cover as much flesh as she could. Daryl noticed her shift and frowned.

"You bit?" He grunted out. Merle swung round and had his hand on his knife. He looked at her warily as if she was turning right there and then. Nellie looked up quickly and shook her head slowly, still holding the fabric of her sleeves tightly.

"Mind if we take a look gurly?" Merle took a step forward, but Nellie quickly scrambled to her feet and took a frail step backwards on her pin like legs, holding the ends of her sleeves firmly in each palm, her heart racing.

"I'm not bit... Trust me..." She croaked out. Merle and Daryl exchanged a look and Merle put his hands up, slowly walking towards her, Daryl not far behind. They had to make sure and her defiance wasn't promising that she wasn't infected...

"Now girly, we gotta camp not far from here, other women, kids, protection and food... We can take ya'll up there but we gotta check ya for bites, ya understand?" Merle played calm and cool as he crept as close as he could get to her without her bolting. Not that he thought she could run right now anyway- even with her baggy long sleeve shirt on, he could see she was as skinny as a rake and deathly pale.

No- she wouldn't make it five yards running before passing out. They could easily check her then, but if she really was fine, dragging both her and the buck back to the truck seemed such an effort...

"I'm not bitten..." Nellie rasped desperately not wanting these men to see them. See her scars and call her pathetic and abandon her weak ass. Call her an attention seeking whore like He did... She couldn't take that- it would drive her over the edge and nothing could stop her from taking that knife out on her arms again- another attempt to leave the world. She couldn't bare to hear those words again...

She reached for her head as the voices came back and her chest became tight, scrunching her hair up in her fists as she winced.

Seeing her unfocused, Merle jumped forward and grabbed her arms, holding her still while Daryl grabbed her wrist and pulled up her sleeve.

They all stared in silence at the state of her broken and abused flesh. They were obviously the result of multiple self harming, but there were some marks further up that she couldn't have possibly inflicted on herself... Someone else had added to her bodily abuse.

Nellie braced herself for the insults and the once screaming voices in her head were now hushed- no need for them when real people were about to say the same words she desperately wanted to ignore...

"Damn..." Daryl breathed just about stopping himself from lightly running the thumb of his hand (that wrapped almost double over her wrist) over the countless scars, bumps and long thin scabs that covered her.

Merle let her go, brushing her back not too lightly as he started to walk around infront of her.

He raised an eyebrow as she arched away from the small pressure, winced and shied back from both Daryls touch and Merles. Her back hurt her too, and Merle would bet his Harley bike that the abuse on her arms didn't stop there.

He couldn't help himself as he slowly reached out his hand to pull up her shirt to see if his assumptions were right, but she gave a small cry and backed away from them holding her head.

They both stared at her in confusion as she whimpered, eyes tightly shut.

"Just say it already... Say it!" She screamed almost silently through her dry voice, hands now over her face.

"Say what sweet cheeks?" Merle shook his head and picked up her knife that lie on the ground, eyeing the sun and his kill, wanting to get back before dark, if this girl was gonna take much longer he wouldn't make it.

He was trying his best to forget what he just saw. No good cane from dwelling on something like that... And her seeming to dwell on it and keep shouting was gonna attract trouble...

Daryl on the other hand watched her closely and silently, putting his crossbow on his back. Studying the way she flinched as she waited for them to speak.

"Just Say it already..." her shoulders shook with silent tears.

Daryl shook his head, looking towards his brother for his lead, unsure what to do. Merle sighed, nodded and walked over, crouching beside Nellie and handing her her knife, itching to get back in his truck and drive away, with or without the girl, no matter how crazy and complex she was getting.

"We ain't gonna say any of that shit. Now, c'mon. Get up and let's get back to our camp. Get you sommin' to eat,"

Nellie roughly wiped her eyes with her forearm and looked up in confusion, shakily finding her feet again as she stood and pulled her sleeves tighter around her hands.

They weren't going to say it? Did they think it?

Merle gave a crooked smile and quickly turned, picking up the dead buck easily over his shoulders and headed down the road at a brisk walk. His grin dropped once he was turned and a faint desire to retch filled him.

Nellie glanced at Daryl who jerked his head towards Merle and waited until she took her first step forward before he turned and followed his brother, looking over his shoulder and relaxed to see her following. 'Poor thing shouldn't be left out here alone. Not with the way she is...'he thought. Glancing down at her covered arms before quickly turning away.

Nellie internally questioned their actions following Merles lead to a red Truck on the side of the road, clustered amongst several over vehicles, all with their tank caps open from where they had siphoned fuel earlier.

He threw his kill in the bed and opened the door, swinging his arm inside, facing Nellie.

"Ladies first." He winked with a half smirk but inside he cursed himself- What the fuck were they getting themselves into...?


End file.
